Our Great North Festival of Agriculture is in full swing now after the great opening weekend of Dig for Victory. We also had the chance to enjoy the Leek Show last Saturday and Sunday- hope you had some success if you entered anything!

Unfortunately, I am not the most green fingered member of the team here at Beamish, so had nothing to enter (next year will be better promise!) but I did have the chance to have a nosey at all the other lovely entries!

There was so much to see at the Leek Show, which was down in our 1900s Pit Village, I hope I caught it all, from the different categories of vegetables that were lovingly scrubbed ready to be judged by our eagle eyed judges, to the bountiful bouquets of flowers bringing a smile to every passer-by.

I always love how seemingly innocuous items such as leeks or potatoes can inspire such enthusiasm among the people who care about them, just look at us in Herron’s Bakery with our beloved baked goodies! We could talk to people all day about different sponges and the history of bread, and I found this week that the eager vegetable growers and flower arrangers are no different.

Watching the auction of the entries (with the exhibitors’ permission) that closes the show was one of the highlights for me, it got quite competitive at points! Although the proud-as-punch faces of people who won rosettes was a very close second!If seeing all of these goodies has inspired you to enter, start practising growing and arranging now, as I have learned getting green fingers isn’t a quick process… Keep your eyes peeled for next year’s categories when they are announced!